Interesting project here, as Sadhara is a one-woman show. Formed in 2003 by Katherine Burke, Sadhara is totally her musical expression. She wrote all the music, and plays everything but the drums on this album, including both clean and growled vocals. Shortly after the beginnings of the band, Katherine recruited Iwan Hendrikx to play drums. Since the independent release of this album, the band has further filled their ranks with an additional guitar player.

TO HELL WITH SYMPATHY begins with the title track, and I immediately assumed that this was going to be a goth-metal album. The song sounds like it could easily be included on an Echoes of Eternity album, and Katherine provides that ethereal vocals to match. This quickly turns out to be misleading however, as the rest of the album is classic Gothenburg melodic death metal through and through with slashing guitars, melodic leads and catchy riffs. Katherine’s vocals also take a turn for the more savage, and although she’s no Angela Gossow, she does manage to imbue her growls with enough power to make them effective.

Of course, melodic death metal is far past its prime and the bands playing today are generally just copies of those who came before. This is also largely true of Sadhara. There is nothing particularly striking or noteworthy throughout this album, but the band is tight and the songs are well-written enough to make it an entertaining listen.

This is a very solid first step for Sadhara, especially considering this was essentially a studio project-only when they recorded this album. Their bio states that they’ll be looking to expand into the live arena in the near future, which can only help them get better. Even so, TO HELL WITH SYMPATHY is worth a listen to those who pine for some classic Gothenburg metal.